Becoming a Georgia delegate to the Democratic National Convention is no simple task. You have to campaign, give a speech and get elected by your fellow Democrats.

But you also have to pass perhaps the toughest test: approval from the Obama or Clinton campaigns.

It is a little-known fact about the delegation selection process that the candidates — and not local Democrats — have final say on which individuals are selected as delegates and get to go to Denver for one of the most exciting nomination competitions in generations.

Even though each of the pledged delegates technically is beholden to vote a certain way at the convention in August, a Barack Obama delegate, for example, still could cast a ballot in Denver for Hillary Clinton, or vice versa. And in a race that remains a tight, the campaigns are not taking anything for granted.

Georgia has 57 pledged delegates to be chosen by congressional district. Forty of those are for Obama and 17 are for Clinton. An additional 30 statewide pledged delegates will be selected by the state party leadership — but they, too, must be approved by the campaigns.

The campaigns themselves would just as soon keep that part of the process low-key. Neither wants to be seen as the heavy who strikes Sally Smith or Johnny Jones from the approved list of delegates. But they will.

"By the deadline, the candidates will know who's running for delegates, and they'll exercise their right of review," said Martin Matheny, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage said that campaign is taking the optimistic approach.

"We don't envision having concerns about any of the delegates pledged to Sen. Obama from Georgia, as most will have been with us from the beginning," Brundage said.

It all could become moot in a week if Clinton fails to make a strong showing in Tuesday's primaries in Ohio and Texas. If she falters and Obama skates to the nomination, then his campaign would have little reason to audit delegate applications. But, if she rallies and the race goes on, get ready.

Any registered Georgia voter wanting to be a delegate has until April 4 to file an application with the state party. That application requires a would-be delegate to declare support for either Obama or Clinton. By April 7, the state party sends the list of delegate candidates to the presidential campaigns, who have four more days to send back a list of approved candidates. Finally, delegates are elected on April 19 during meetings in each of the 13 congressional districts.

And the campaigns might have quite a few candidates to review. Interest in going to Denver has been heavy.

Sixth District party chairman Ben Myers said that more than 60 people showed up for a delegate training session. That, even though the district is one of the most solidly Republican districts in the state and has just three delegates. Of those three, two have to be Obama supporters, and one has to be for Clinton.

"We have had an astronomical response," Myers said. "I'm telling you, people feel very good about both candidates, and they're looking forward to an election in November."

Dwanda Farmer hopes to be an Obama delegate from the 5th District. The Mechanicsville resident has a better chance there than in Myers' district. The 5th has seven delegates — five for Obama and two for Clinton.

The selection process gets even more complicated. The state party has strict guidelines for choosing a certain number of female delegates and male delegates. In the 5th District, four of the seven delegates must be women.

And that's not all. The party also has goals, not requirements, for choosing delegates based on race, age, sexual orientation and disabilities. For example, five of the seven District 5 delegates should be black; at least one should be under age 29, two should be gay or transgender, and two should have disabilities.

Farmer must navigate all of those guidelines to become a delegate. And yet, she said, it is worth it.

More than 80 people showed up for her district delegate training, she said, and more than 30 people already have filed applications to be delegates from the 5th District.

"I'm going to have to bring busloads of people to vote for me," Farmer said.

But the 41-year-old business consultant said she also is aware of the other side of the process: the campaign review.

"They get an opportunity to scratch people off the list, to say, 'We don't want this person on the list,' " Farmer said.

The odds are not on the side of Farmer or anyone who wants to be a delegate. But she has volunteered for the campaign and has been a vocal supporter. That background will help when the campaigns review the applicants.

But for the average voter who wants a seat in Denver, the huge enthusiasm among Democrats makes it a long shot. It could be a case of too much success.

"I'm not surprised a lot of Georgians want to be delegates for Sen. Obama," Georgia state Sen. David Adelman (D-Atlanta) said. "The enthusiasm in Georgia has been overwhelming from the day Sen. Obama announced his candidacy."